1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connector having a rear holder joined to a housing thereof by resilient hinge straps for doubly preventing terminals inserted in the housing from slipping off from its rear.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An electrical connector with a rear holder is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Specification No. 61783/1990 in which the rear holder is joined to a housing by means of resiliently elastic lengthy hinge straps so that at mounting of the rear holder on the housing and its demounting therefrom stresses are not concentrated at end portions or intermediate portions of the hinge straps, thereby to preclude cutting of the hinge straps on repeated mounting and demounting of the rear holder.
Shown in FIGS. 14 to 16 is the above prior art. In the electrical connector, formed in a housing a are terminal accommodating chambers b, each of which has a resilient locking arm d projecting from its inner wall for preventing a terminal lug c from rearwardly slipping off. Rear holder engagement openings f extending to the respective terminal accommodating chambers b are formed in an outer peripheral wall e of the housing a, to which a rear holder i is connected by resiliently elastic lengthy hinge straps j. The rear holder i is composed of a base plate g and terminal locking projections h formed on the under surface of the base plate g for insertion into the rear holder engagement openings f. Each terminal locking projection h has a step portion k which, when the locking projection h is inserted in the associated engagement opening f, engages the rear end of the outer peripheral wall e for preventing the rear holder's front portion from being lifted. The rear holder i is provided with arms m including claws l that engage the exterior of the housing a for preventing the rear holder' rear portion from being lifted. With the above structure, in mounting the rear holder i on the housing a, the terminal locking projections h are inserted into the housing a through the rear holder engagement openings f and moved forwardly, driving terminal lugs c in an incompletely inserted position to a position where the lugs c are engaged with resilient locking arms d (FIG. 16).
In the above prior art, however, the rear holder i may be fitted on the housing a only after insertion of terminal lugs c into the housing a is completed. As a result, hinge straps j remain largely extended outwardly during transportation and easily get entangled with each other, causing damages to the hinge straps j and rear holders i.